Masters of Health Magazine June 2022 | Page 67

Glutathione is also key to detoxification. This is incredibly important. Because many toxic exposures cannot be avoided in today’s world, we must detoxify and remove harmful compounds from our body. Glutathione is critical to Phase 2 detoxification, which is geared towards moving broken-down toxins from Phase 1 detox out of the body (see more on this here).

How did we get here?

The FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee (PCAC) advises the agency in writing new rules regarding what supplements and drugs can be made individually, for patients with specific needs, by compounding pharmacies. PCAC has met a handful of times over the last few years, and as we’ve noted elsewhere, the track record is not good.

The committee has voted to ban almost every compounded natural treatment put before it, including curcumin, boswellia, and aloe vera—usually following the FDA’s recommendation. PCAC meetings are the first step in the FDA’s process; after PCAC makes a recommendation, the FDA will issue a proposed rulemaking, on which the public can comment, to either allow or ban ingredients.

ANH-USA and allies nominated glutathione to be included in the list of substances (the “Bulk Drug List”) that can continue to be made at traditional compounding pharmacies. In 2018, the FDA was preparing to consider glutathione. ANH, with the help of the natural health community, submitted twelve pages of scientific citations supporting glutathione’s inclusion on the Bulk Drug List.

The agency seemed to back off, issuing an interim policy listing glutathione among other medicines that were under evaluation but could still be compounded while the agency concluded its evaluation. Now that glutathione will be discussed by PCAC, the agency may be posed to move forward with a ban.

Individualized medicines made at specialized pharmacies are used by patients with special needs as alternatives to commercially available drugs and products or when no such drugs or products are available. There are a variety of reasons: some patients may need customized dosages, a different delivery form (due to trouble swallowing pills for example), or a special formulation to avoid allergens.

Over the years, the FDA has been systematically whittling down the medicines that can be made at these pharmacies, so much so that it will be a miracle if they can stay in business.

Integrative medicine is predicated on a doctor’s ability to treat the individual needs of a patient with a tailored regimen, which often means going outside of the one-size-fits-all paradigm. Banning one medicine after another from being made at a compounding pharmacy is reducing your doctor’s ability to heal you.

Action Alert! Use the form below to post a message to regulations.gov defending glutathione; you will also send a message to the FDA, PCAC, and Congress. Please send your message immediately.

 

“Re-Education Camps” for Doctors?

Efforts are increasing to silence doctors who stray too far from the dictates of conventional medicine.  Action Alerts!

“More than 2 years into this pandemic, the largest threat next to the spread of the virus itself is the spread of disinformation and misinformation.” These words were spoken by the CEO of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), Humayun Chaudhry, DO.

The statement is emblematic of the wave of censorship that has been building since the beginning of the pandemic. It is also in line with other attempts at the federal level to gag free speech about natural treatments for COVID prevention and treatment. We cannot allow these efforts to stifle the speech of doctors to succeed.